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  • root-and-branch
    root-and-branch
    adjective
    on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale
  • root and branch
    root and branch
    Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.

root-and-branch

British  

adjective

  1. on a large scale or without discrimination; wholesale

    root-and-branch reforms

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. entirely; completely; utterly

    Brazil needs reform root and branch

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
root and branch Idioms  
  1. Utterly, completely, as in The company has been transformed root and branch by the new management. Alluding to both the underground and aboveground parts of a tree, this idiom was first recorded in 1640.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The author ties his root-and-branch critique of capitalism to a plea to “make modern life much more affordable than it is at present,” which he hopes will open more opportunities for enlightened leisure.

From The Wall Street Journal Jun. 2, 2026

And because of its hallowed status as a national treasure, any efforts at root-and-branch change quickly run up against political resistance.

From New York Times Jul. 16, 2023

He was also shrewd enough to understand that there needed to be root-and-branch reform of the Communist Party itself if his economic reforms were to succeed.

From BBC Aug. 30, 2022

But this is the first time he’s dug root-and-branch into a decades-old genre he’d only glanced at before.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 17, 2022

What we call our root-and-branch reforms of slavery, war, gambling, intemperance, is only medicating the symptoms.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 35, September, 1860 by Various

So what happens if there's a root and branch review, with every spending line scrutinised, new priorities set and given more funds and others squeezed or cut?

From BBC Jun. 10, 2025

Not at his attempts to wreak personal vengeance, reconstitute Washington root and branch, or engineer a lasting partisan realignment.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 1, 2024

The president says he wants to implement root and branch reform in the coming years.

From BBC Jan. 12, 2024

In short, VAR, in its current form, has been an unmitigated disaster and must either undergo a root and branch review and be updated with the buy-in of players and managers or be scrapped altogether.

From BBC Dec. 18, 2023

Where it touched the ground it melted, but all about him rock and root and branch wore a thin blanket of white.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

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